As of the closing date earlier this morning, a total of 78 players has confirmed their places to vie for the National Individual Rapid Online Chess Championship 2020. Some of the more notable players that will be competing in this National event are IM Jimmy Liew, former National Champions Evan Timonthy Capel and Lee Soi Hock, veterans Ahmad Muzzaffar Mustapha and Lim Kian Hwa, Sivanesan siblings Nithyalakshmi and Subramanian, and youngsters Anderson Ang Ern Jie and Poh Yu Tian. The youngest participant for the event are 8 years old Praneal Balan and Dharvindra Raj Mohana Raj.

Now that the numbers are final, MCF will decide within the next couple of days whether to proceed with the Qualifying format to be held next week, or proceed directly to the Final rounds in view that the number of participants are manageable for a single session. If the event proceeds directly to the final, it will a be 9 Rounds Swiss format for everyone with 5 rounds to be played on 24th October and the balance 4 rounds to be played the next day 25th October 2020 (NOTE: There was an error earlier. The actual date is October NOT November). In such situation, all the advertised prizes will be honored and given out to the winners.

Once the decision is finalized, MCF will inform all the players of the final format by 10th October – as advertised in the Regulations, and will proceed from there. Players must be on the look out for their emails and whatsapp within the next few days for the confirmation and announcement to be made.

The final list of all the players competing can be viewed at chess-results.com as per the following LINK by clicking HERE. Players are advised to check their names and chess.com handle ID and report any error to the organizer as soon as possible.

All the best to everyone!